Methods of forming features

ABSTRACT

A method of forming a feature in a void, the method including filling the void having at least one sloped wall with a polymeric material; forming a layer of photoresist over the polymeric material; forming a gap in the layer of photoresist; and etching the polymeric material exposed by the gap in the layer of photoresist to form a feature.

PRIORITY

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No.62/078,123 entitled METHOD OF FORMING WRITE POLE filed on Nov. 11, 2014,the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference thereto.

SUMMARY

Disclosed are methods of forming at least one feature in a void, themethod including filling the void having at least one sloped wall with apolymeric material; forming a layer of photoresist over the polymericmaterial; forming a gap in the layer of photoresist; and etching thepolymeric material exposed by the gap in the layer of photoresist toform the at least one feature.

Also disclosed are methods of depositing material in a void, the methodincluding filling the void having at least one sloped wall with apolymeric material; at least partially curing the polymeric material;forming a layer of photoresist over the at least partially curedpolymeric material; forming a gap in the layer of photoresist; etchingthe at least partially cured polymeric material exposed by the gap inthe layer of photoresist to form at least one feature; and depositingmaterial in the void.

The above summary of the present disclosure is not intended to describeeach disclosed embodiment or every implementation of the presentdisclosure. The description that follows more particularly exemplifiesillustrative embodiments. In several places throughout the application,guidance is provided through lists of examples, which examples can beused in various combinations. In each instance, the recited list servesonly as a representative group and should not be interpreted as anexclusive list.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A to 1H are top down (FIG. 1A) and cross section (FIGS. 1B to 1H)views of structures at various stages of formation using a specificillustrative disclosed method.

FIG. 2A is a perspective view of a magnetic disc drive and FIG. 2B is across sectional view of a perpendicular HAMR magnetic recording head andan associated recording medium.

FIGS. 3A to 3D are scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of anillustrative void before (FIG. 3A) and after (FIGS. 3B to 3D) featureswere formed therein using a specific illustrative disclosed method.

The figures are not necessarily to scale. Like numbers used in thefigures refer to like components. However, it will be understood thatthe use of a number to refer to a component in a given figure is notintended to limit the component in another figure labeled with the samenumber.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Many methods and processes utilize various photolithograph methods andprocesses to form features for forming portions of devices. Differentscenarios render such typical methods less effective. For example, awrite pole for a heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) head requiresperforming critical dimension (CD) lithography on a sloped wall of alarger trench or void that is almost 1 micrometer (μm) deep.Furthermore, the slope of the void itself has significant topography andthere is topography on the bottom surface of the void. Suchcircumstances can make it difficult to form the requisite features.Existing photolithography methods and processes are resolution limitedbecause of the limitation of depth of focus (DOF). This is a fundamentallimitation because a high DOF requires a lower numerical aperture (NA)and a lower NA automatically gives a larger CD (see equations 1 and 2below).

$\begin{matrix}{{C\; D} = {k_{1} \cdot \frac{\lambda}{N\; A}}} & \left( {{Eqn}.\mspace{14mu} 1} \right) \\{{D\; O\; F} = {k_{2} \cdot \frac{\lambda}{N\; A^{2}}}} & \left( {{Eqn}.\mspace{14mu} 2} \right)\end{matrix}$

Therefore, in order to obtain a lower resolution process, a process witha lower DOF is necessary.

Disclosed methods enable forming very small features within a largervoid and even larger voids that include topography. The topography canbe present on the walls, e.g., they can be sloped walls with or withoutadditional topography, the base, or any combination thereof, anddisclosed processes can still form features having very small dimensionswithin the larger void.

The larger void, in which a feature is going to be formed, can havevarious dimensions. In some embodiments, the void can have an averagedepth of at least 0.5 μm deep, at least 0.75 μm deep, or at least 1 μmdeep. The void can have any shape. For example, the void can be square,rectangular, triangular, trapezoidal, circular, elliptical, irregular,or any combination thereof. The void can have various dimensionsdepending on the shape or general shape thereof. An illustration of aspecific, non-limiting void which can have a feature formed thereinusing disclosed methods, includes a trapezoidal shaped void having adepth of 950 nm, sidewalls of 10 μm and 36 μm, and a width across of 14μm. Another illustration of a specific, non-limited void which can havea feature formed therein using disclosed methods, includes a generallytriangular shaped void having a depth of 800 nm, sidewalls of 10 μm and36 μm, and a width across of 14 μm with a 30 degree slope on at leastone wall and with topography on the bottom surface of the void.

FIG. 1A shows a top down view of a void 105. The void 105 includes sidewalls 103. FIG. 1B shows a view of the cross section taken through FIG.1A, as indicated by the dashed line in FIG. 1A. The void 105 in FIG. 1Bis formed from the sidewalls 103 and has a height, h. The height, h, ofthe void can be the average height from the base of the void to the top.In some embodiments, the height, h, can be at least 0.5 μm, at least0.75 μm, or at least 1 μm. Although not depicted in FIG. 1B, the base104 can have features thereon and need not be flat.

Disclosed methods utilize a polymeric material to fill the void and thenuse photolithographic methods to form the feature within the now filledin void. In some embodiments, disclosed methods can include at least thesteps of depositing polymeric material in a void, forming a layer ofphotoresist over the polymeric material, forming a gap in thephotoresist material, and etching the polymeric material exposed by thegap in the photoresist.

Illustrative polymeric materials that can be utilized herein cangenerally include any material that can fill the void and be selectivelyremoved by some process. In some embodiments, the polymeric material canbe a planarizing material, for example a self-leveling planarizingmaterial. Illustrative, non-limiting examples of polymeric materialsthat can be utilized herein can include, for example LEVEL® M10planarizing material and BSI F12022 planarizing material (both fromBrewer Science, Inc. (Rolla, Mo.)), PC3-1500 planarizing coating (fromFuturexx, Inc. (Franklin, N.J.)), SIUL® 62 (from Shin-Etsu Chemical(Chiyoda, Tokyo)) and epoxy functionalized Si-12 (epoxy-Si-12) (Ogawa,et al. J. Micro/Nanolith. MEMS MOEMS 13 (3), 031302 (July-September2014), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by referencethereto).

The polymeric material can be deposited in the void using any knownmethods. Illustrative methods for depositing the polymeric material inthe void can include, for example spin coating and spray coating. Insome embodiments, the polymeric material can be deposited in the voidusing spin coating. A polymeric material can be chosen based on itsability to effectively fill the void, fill the void and create asubstantially planar surface, or both. In some embodiments, theseproperties can be compared by determining a planarization percentage. Tomeasure the planarization percentage, the depth across a sloped wall canbe measured (D) using, for example profilometry. Next, the polymericmaterial can be coated, for example, spin coated over the sloped walland the depth measured again (Dp). The planarization percentage can thenbe [(D−Dp)/D]*100. This test was carried out on LEVEL® M10 planarizingmaterial, BSI F12022 planarizing material and SIUL® 62. LEVEL® M10planarizing material produced a planarization percentage of about 97%,BSI F12022 planarizing material produced a planarization percentage ofabout 58% and SIUL® 62 produced a planarization percentage of about 48%.

Generally, an amount of polymeric material that can entirely fill thevoid and still has an excess of material is utilized. In someembodiments, enough polymeric material to fill the void completely andstill have an overburden (thickness of the polymeric material above thetop of the void) of at least 20% of the thickness of the void can beutilized. In some embodiments, the overburden can be at least 50%, insome embodiments at least 100% (the thickness above the void is just asthick as the deepest point of the void), and in some embodiments atleast 120%. A specific example can include enough polymeric material tofill a void whose deepest point is 1 μm and have an overburden thicknessof 1 μm. In another specific embodiment, the average thickness of thepolymeric material can be at least 1 μm thick (a polymeric material withsuch a thickness could be useful in a void with an average depth ofabout 850 nm).

The polymeric material may optionally be cured. The method of curing thepolymeric material will of course depend at least in part on theparticular polymeric material. In some embodiments, the polymericmaterial can be cured using radiation (e.g., e-beam radiation, UVradiation, etc.), using heat, or combinations thereof for example. Insome embodiments, the polymeric material can be cured using UVradiation. In some embodiments, the polymeric material can be curedusing heat. In some embodiments, the polymeric material can be curedusing heat and UV radiation. In some embodiments, the polymeric materialcan be heated (e.g., to at least 90° C., or about 100° C.), UV treated,and then heated again (e.g., to at least 90° C. or about 100° C.).

FIG. 1C shows the structure after the polymeric material 110 has beendeposited in the void. As seen in that figure, the polymeric material110 overfills the void to some extent.

In some embodiments, a hard mask can be formed over the polymericmaterial. Use of a hard mask over the polymeric material can be usefulbecause it may better allow for etching deep, higher aspect ratiofeatures that convention photoresists typically cannot withstand. Insome embodiments, the polymeric material being utilized may have an etchrate that is almost the same as photoresist. Without the addition of thehard mask layer, the etching step may not be as effective, or asselective as desired. Furthermore, critical dimension patterningtypically requires or is more effective with thin photoresist. In suchcircumstances, it can be advantageous to first transfer the pattern fromphotoresist, then into a hard mask layer and finally down through thepolymeric material. The hard mask layer can be applied over thepolymeric material using known methods, for example, spin coating orspray coating. In some embodiments, the hard mask layer can be depositedusing spin coating. The hard mask, once applied may also benefit fromfurther processing steps. The specific additional processing steps thatmay be utilized can depend at least in part on the particular hard maskbeing utilized. In some embodiments, for example heat treatment (e.g.,heating or baking the structure from 100° C. to 200° C. for example) canbe utilized on the applied hard mask.

The optional hard mask layer can include a silicon based hard mask, or acarbon based coating. A specific, illustrative material that can be usedas the hard mask layer is SiHM-A943 from Shin-Etsu Chemical (Chiyoda,Tokyo). If utilized, the SiHM-A943 can be spin coated on (for example)and optionally baked from 110° C. to 150° C. for example.

Whether the optional hard mask layer is utilized or not, a next stepincludes deposition of a photoresist layer (either on the hard masklayer or the polymeric material). The photoresist may be a negative orpositive photoresist. The photoresist may be applied using knownmethods, for example spin coating. The photoresist, once applied mayalso benefit from further processing steps. The specific additionalprocessing steps that may be utilized can depend at least in part on theparticular photoresist being utilized. In some embodiments, for exampleheat treatment (e.g., heating or baking the structure to at least 100°C., or more specifically at least 110° C.) can be utilized on theapplied photoresist. Heat treating the polymeric material can functionto reflow the polymeric material, thereby further improving the surfaceplanarity.

The photoresist utilized herein can include any photoresist material.Specific, non-limiting examples of photoresist that can be utilized caninclude, for example I-line photoresist, KrF photoresist or ArFphotoresist.

Once the photoresist layer has been formed and any optional treatmentshave been carried out on it, the next step is to selectively expose thephotoresist and develop it. As will be known, the effect of exposing anddeveloping the photoresist is dependent on whether or not it is anegative or positive photoresist. A positive photoresist is a type ofphotoresist where the portion of the photoresist exposed to lightbecomes soluble to the developer. A negative photoresist is a type ofphotoresist where the portion of the photoresist exposed to lightbecomes insoluble to the developer. The portions of the photoresistexposed will obviously depend on the particular feature being formed.

FIG. 1D shows the structure after formation of the photoresist layer115. The photoresist layer 115 can generally be deposited at least overthe area of the polymeric material 110 that fills the void. Although notdepicted in this figure, if the optional hard mask layer were utilized,it would be a layer between the top surface of 110 and the bottomsurface of the photoresist layer 115.

Known methods of patterning, exposing and developing the photoresist canbe utilized herein and the particular methods and processes utilized canobviously depend at least in part on the particular photoresist beingutilized. In some embodiments, a positive photoresist can be utilized.In some particular embodiments, an I-line photoresist can be utilized.In a specific illustrative embodiment, this particular photoresist canbe baked to about 110° C. after being deposited, then selectivelyexposed at 193 nm, baked again to 105° C. and then developed usingtetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH).

FIG. 1E shows the structure after selectively exposing and developingthe photoresist layer. At this point, a gap 119 is formed in thepatterned photoresist layer 117. There can of course be one or more thanone gap formed in the photoresist layer, even though only one isdepicted in FIG. 1E.

If the optional hard mask was applied over the polymer material, theportions of the hard mask exposed by the developed photoresist (e.g.,the portions of the hard mask exposed by the gaps in the photoresist)can then be etched away. The particular etching method can depend atleast in part on the particular hard mask utilized. Possible etchingmethods that can be utilized can include, for example chemical etchingor plasma etching. In some illustrative embodiments, plasma etching, forexample fluorine or oxygen plasma etching can be utilized. The speciesutilized in the plasma etching will depend, at least in part on theparticular hard mask utilized.

Once the gaps have been formed all the way to the polymer material(either simply by developing the photoresist or by both developing thephotoresist and etching the hard mask) the next step includes removingthe polymeric material exposed by the gaps in the photoresist. This canbe accomplished in numerous ways, depending of course on the particularpolymeric material being utilized. In some embodiments, the polymericmaterial can be removed by etching. The particular etching method candepend at least in part on the particular polymeric material utilized.Possible etching methods that can be utilized can include, for examplechemical etching or plasma etching. In some illustrative embodiments,plasma etching, for example fluorine or oxygen plasma etching can beutilized. The species utilized in the plasma etching will depend, atleast in part on the particular polymeric material utilized.

FIG. 1F shows the structure after the polymeric material exposed by thegap has been removed. This forms a trench 121 that may extendsubstantially all the way to the base 104 of the void.

A next optional step in disclosed methods includes deposition of amaterial in the trench formed in the polymeric material. The particularmaterial to be deposited and the method of deposition can depend atleast in part on the structure or device being formed using thedisclosed method. Illustrative processes can include for example,deposition methods such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD), physicalvapor deposition (PVD), atomic layer deposition (ALD), plating (e.g.,electroplating), sputtering methods, cathodic arc deposition methods,and evaporative methods. In some embodiments, the material can bedeposited by plating. Plating may be advantageous in comparison to someof the other methods because of the high aspect ratio of the trenchwhere deposition is being undertaken. In some embodiments, the materialcan be deposited by electroplating the material.

It should also be noted that features formed via disclosed methods canhave material deposited around them in the void. Once the material hasbeen deposited around them in the void (for example, via electroplating)the polymeric material/optional hard mask/photoresist can then beremoved, leaving gaps in the deposited material where the polymericmaterial/optional hard mask/photoresist was located.

In some specific illustrative embodiments, disclosed methods can beutilized to form a write pole for a magnetic recording head. In suchmethods, a magnetic material could be deposited in the trench. In someembodiments, various methods can be utilized to deposit the magneticmaterial. For example, electroplating can be utilized to deposit themagnetic material. In some specific illustrative embodiments, the writepole material can include at least one of CoFe, CoFeNi, CoFeRh, CoFeRu,CoFePt, CoFePd and NiFe, for example.

FIG. 1G shows the structure once material has been deposited in thetrench. The material 123 need not, but can entirely fill the trench. Insome embodiments, the material 123 can be deposited to a level that isat least higher than the polymeric material, for example.

Once the material has been deposited in the trench, a next step caninclude removing the polymeric material (110 in FIG. 1G) and thepatterned photoresist material (117 in FIG. 1G). This can beaccomplished in various ways and the specific methods and/or processesutilized can depend at least in part on the particular photoresistmaterial and polymeric material utilized. In some embodiments, this canbe accomplished by ashing. Because both the polymeric material and thephotoresist material are organic, ashing, either with or without oxygen(O₂) can function to remove them. Because the deposited material 123 ismost typically not organic, ashing will not affect it in any substantialor detrimental way. Alternatively, the photoresist material and thepolymeric material may be removed by etching (e.g., wet etching (withCF₄ for example) or dry etching (with O₂ for example)), dissolving themin a suitable solvent, or combinations thereof.

FIG. 1H shows the structure after the polymeric material 110 and thepatterned photoresist 117 have been removed. At this point, the onlything that remains is the deposited material or feature 123 within thevoid 105. Although not depicted in FIG. 1H, it will be understood thatthe feature can be formed anywhere within the void even in contact witha side wall of the void or any other pre-existing feature within thevoid. In some embodiments, the feature can be formed in contact with atleast one side wall of the void, for example a sloped side wall of thevoid.

In some embodiments, disclosed methods can be utilized to form a writepole for heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR). HAMR utilizesradiation, for example from a laser, to heat media to a temperatureabove its curie temperature, enabling magnetic recording. Such a writepole can be part of a bigger structure of device. FIG. 2A is aperspective view of disc drive 10 including an actuation system forpositioning slider 12 over track 14 of magnetic medium 16, in which awrite pole made using a disclosed method could be utilized. For the sakeof context, additional structures and portions of such a device will bedescribed herein with respect to FIG. 2A. The particular configurationof disc drive 10 is shown for ease of description and is not intended tolimit the scope of the present disclosure in any way. Disc drive 10includes voice coil motor 18 arranged to rotate actuator arm 20 on aspindle around axis 22. Load beam 24 is connected to actuator arm 20 athead mounting block 26. Suspension 28 is connected to an end of loadbeam 24 and slider 12 is attached to suspension 28. Magnetic medium 16rotates around an axis 30, so that the windage is encountered by slider12 to keep it aloft a small distance above the surface of magneticmedium 16. Each track 14 of magnetic medium 16 is formatted with anarray of data storage cells for storing data. Slider 12 carries amagnetic device or transducer (not shown in FIG. 2A) for reading and/ orwriting data on tracks 14 of magnetic medium 16. The magnetic transducerutilizes additional electromagnetic energy to heat the surface of medium16 to facilitate recording by a process termed heat assisted magneticrecording (HAMR).

A HAMR transducer includes a magnetic writer for generating a magneticfield to write to a magnetic medium (e.g. magnetic medium 16) and anoptical device to heat a portion of the magnetic medium proximate to thewrite field. FIG. 2B is a cross sectional view of a portion of amagnetic device, for example a HAMR magnetic device 40 and a portion ofassociated magnetic storage medium 42. HAMR magnetic device 40 includeswrite pole 44 and return pole 46 coupled by pedestal 48. Coil 50comprising conductors 52 and 54 encircles the pedestal and is supportedby an insulator 56. As shown, magnetic storage medium 42 is aperpendicular magnetic medium comprising magnetically hard storage layer62 and soft magnetic underlayer 64 but can be other forms of media, suchas patterned media. A current in the coil induces a magnetic field inthe pedestal and the poles. Magnetic flux 58 exits the recording head atair bearing surface (ABS) 60 and is used to change the magnetization ofportions of magnetically hard layer 62 of storage medium 42 enclosedwithin region 58. Near field transducer 66 is positioned adjacent thewrite pole 44 proximate air bearing surface 60. Near field transducer 66is coupled to waveguide 68 that receives an electromagnetic wave from anenergy source such as a laser. An electric field at the end of nearfield transducer 66 is used to heat a portion 69 of magnetically hardlayer 62 to lower the coercivity so that the magnetic field from thewrite pole can affect the magnetization of the storage medium.

The write pole 44 in a HAMR head can be formed by using disclosedmethods to form a trench and then depositing write pole material in thattrench. Typically, write pole material is a high moment magneticmaterial. In some embodiments, write pole material has a magnetic momentof at least 2.0 tesla (T), or at least 2.4 T. In some specificillustrative embodiments, the write pole material can include at leastone of CoFe, CoFeNi, CoFeRh, CoFeRu, CoFePt, CoFePd and NiFe.

The present disclosure is illustrated by the following examples. It isto be understood that the particular examples, assumptions, modeling,and procedures are to be interpreted broadly in accordance with thescope and spirit of the disclosure as set forth herein.

EXAMPLE

FIG. 3A is a top down view from an optical microscope of a specificillustrative void. This illustrative void is made of nickel iron (NiFe)and is trapezoidal in shape, with the top side (as it is seen in FIG.3A) having a dimension of 10 μm, the bottom side having a dimension of36 μm and a height of 14 μm. The wall having the dimension of 10 μm hada slope of about 30° (visible in FIGS. 3C and 3D). The average depth ofthe void was about 800 nm.

The void was filled with LEVEL® M10-44 planarizing material usingspin-coating at 1800 rpm to an average thickness of 2 μm. The structurewas then baked on a hot plate at a temperature of about 100° C. forabout 60 seconds. The structure was then I-line exposed (365 nm) at a600 mJ dose to cure the planarizing material. Then the structure wasagain baked on a hot plate at a temperature of about 100° C. for about60 seconds.

Next, a 110 nm thick layer of SiHM A943 was spin coated on the surfaceaccording to manufacturer's recommendations. The structure was thenbaked on a hot plate at about 180° C. for about 230 seconds. Then, a 330nm thick layer of TOK-5071 photoresist (TOK, Hillsboro, Oreg.) was spincoated according to manufacturer's recommendations. The structure wasthen baked on a hot plate at about 110° C. for about 220 seconds. Thestructure was then selectively exposed to 193 nm wavelength exposure at30 mJ dose and baked on a hot plate at 105° C. for about 220 seconds toform soluble portions of the photoresist. The photoresist was developedusing tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) according to manufacturer'srecommendations. The silicon hard mask layer was then plasma etched withfluorine chemistry plasma etch to remove it where it is exposed. Theplanarizing material was plasma etched with oxygen chemistry plasmaetching remove it where it is exposed.

FIGS. 3B, 3C and 3D show features of the remaining polymeric materialand overlying hard mask layer formed within the void using an example ofa specific illustrative method disclosed herein. The features shown inFIGS. 3B, 3C and 3D (or similar features) could be utilized in variousdifferent ways to (for example) form a write pole. In some embodiments,a write pole material (e.g., CoFe) could be deposited and the write polephoto pattern could be transferred down into the pole material (viadisclosed methods and features such as those depicted in FIGS. 3B, 3Cand 3D) by either plasma etching or ion beam milling of the CoFe. Forexample, the features seen in FIGS. 3B, 3C and 3D could be used to etchdown into the CoFe. Alternatively, a CoFe/NiFe seed layer could bedeposited, methods disclosed herein could be used to form trenches andCoFe write pole material could be plated inside the trenches.

All scientific and technical terms used herein have meanings commonlyused in the art unless otherwise specified. The definitions providedherein are to facilitate understanding of certain terms used frequentlyherein and are not meant to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

As used in this specification and the appended claims, “top” and“bottom” (or other terms like “upper” and “lower”) are utilized strictlyfor relative descriptions and do not imply any overall orientation ofthe article in which the described element is located.

As used in this specification and the appended claims, the singularforms “a”, “an”, and “the” encompass embodiments having pluralreferents, unless the content clearly dictates otherwise.

As used in this specification and the appended claims, the term “or” isgenerally employed in its sense including “and/or” unless the contentclearly dictates otherwise. The term “and/or” means one or all of thelisted elements or a combination of any two or more of the listedelements.

As used herein, “have”, “having”, “include”, “including”, “comprise”,“comprising” or the like are used in their open ended sense, andgenerally mean “including, but not limited to”. It will be understoodthat “consisting essentially of”, “consisting of”, and the like aresubsumed in “comprising” and the like. For example, a conductive tracethat “comprises” silver may be a conductive trace that “consists of”silver or that “consists essentially of” silver.

As used herein, “consisting essentially of,” as it relates to acomposition, apparatus, system, method or the like, means that thecomponents of the composition, apparatus, system, method or the like arelimited to the enumerated components and any other components that donot materially affect the basic and novel characteristic(s) of thecomposition, apparatus, system, method or the like.

The words “preferred” and “preferably” refer to embodiments that mayafford certain benefits, under certain circumstances. However, otherembodiments may also be preferred, under the same or othercircumstances. Furthermore, the recitation of one or more preferredembodiments does not imply that other embodiments are not useful, and isnot intended to exclude other embodiments from the scope of thedisclosure, including the claims.

Also herein, the recitations of numerical ranges by endpoints includeall numbers subsumed within that range (e.g., 1 to 5 includes 1, 1.5, 2,2.75, 3, 3.80, 4, 5, etc. or 10 or less includes 10, 9.4, 7.6, 5, 4.3,2.9, 1.62, 0.3, etc.). Where a range of values is “up to” a particularvalue, that value is included within the range.

Use of “first,” “second,” etc. in the description above and the claimsthat follow is not intended to necessarily indicate that the enumeratednumber of objects are present. For example, a “second” substrate ismerely intended to differentiate from another infusion device (such as a“first” substrate). Use of “first,” “second,” etc. in the descriptionabove and the claims that follow is also not necessarily intended toindicate that one comes earlier in time than the other.

Thus, embodiments of methods of forming features are disclosed. Theimplementations described above and other implementations are within thescope of the following claims. One skilled in the art will appreciatethat the present disclosure can be practiced with embodiments other thanthose disclosed. The disclosed embodiments are presented for purposes ofillustration and not limitation.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of forming at least one feature in avoid, the method comprising: filling the void having at least one slopedwall with a polymeric material; forming a layer of photoresist over thepolymeric material; forming a gap in the layer of photoresist; andetching the polymeric material exposed by the gap in the layer ofphotoresist to form the at least one feature.
 2. The method according toclaim 1 further comprising depositing a material in the void.
 3. Themethod according to claim 2, wherein the at least one feature is atrench and the material is deposited only in the trench.
 4. The methodaccording to claim 2, wherein the at least one feature is a structureand the material is deposited around the at least one feature in thevoid.
 5. The method according to claim 2 further comprising removing thepolymeric material and the photoresist material after depositingmaterial.
 6. The method according to claim 2, wherein the materialdeposited is deposited at least partially on the sloped wall of thevoid.
 7. The method according to claim 2, wherein depositing thematerial comprises plating the material.
 8. The method according toclaim 1 further comprising applying a hard mask layer on the polymericmaterial before the layer of photoresist is formed thereon.
 9. Themethod according to claim 8, wherein the hard mask layer comprisessilicon.
 10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step offilling the void with a polymeric material is accomplished byspin-coating the polymeric material.
 11. The method according to claim 1further comprising at least partially curing the polymeric material. 12.The method according to claim 1, wherein the polymeric material is aself-leveling material.
 13. The method according to claim 1, wherein thepolymeric material has a thickness that is at least 50% more than thedeepest dimension of the void.
 14. The method according to claim 1,wherein the polymeric material has a thickness of at least 1 micrometer(μm) in the void.
 15. A method of depositing material in a void, themethod comprising: filling the void having at least one sloped wall witha polymeric material; at least partially curing the polymeric material;forming a layer of photoresist over the at least partially curedpolymeric material; forming a gap in the layer of photoresist; etchingthe at least partially cured polymeric material exposed by the gap inthe layer of photoresist to form at least one feature; and depositingmaterial in the void.
 16. The method according to claim 15, wherein theat least one feature is a trench and the material is deposited only inthe trench or the at least one feature is a structure and the materialis deposited around the at least one feature in the void.
 17. The methodaccording to claim 15, wherein the polymeric material was spin-coated inthe void.
 18. The method according to claim 15 further comprisingremoving the cured polymeric material and the photoresist material afterthe material has been deposited in the void using ashing.
 19. The methodaccording to claim 15 further comprising forming more than one gap inthe layer of photoresist.